Christmas Eve is 10 days away. The fullness of the holiday season has descended upon us.

My church offers an annual Advent community-wide activity which provides a lovely activity that invites reconnection to the meaning of the Season. This year, the activity involves a “daily word” theme. Today’s word is “GATHER”. Excerpted below is the social media post about this word as it relates to Advent.

“Whenever I look at a nativity scene, I am always aware of how many disparate creatures gathered together to celebrate the baby Jesus. Where else would one find new parents, a little baby, barn animals, shepherds, and angels gathered in the same place? Not to mention the Magi, who arrived later with fancy gifts. What an interesting assortment of God’s creation!”

Coincidentally, earlier today I had assembled a mish-mash of two different creche scenes displayed on a bookshelf at my home. Some parts were drawn from a collection from my husband’s youth. And others were from a more modern one that’s been part of our family for many years. I love that it is quite the array of colors, textures and materials. And it feels just right.

May we each take time to pause during this season of gathering and celebrating to take stock of our unique and individual contributions to a much more beautiful whole. When we tap into these gifts and offer them up to others, we create undeniable synergistic magic!

Wishing you a Season full of peace, joy and wonder.

“Hey, just take a breath.”  No doubt you have encountered this comment from a well-intentioned friend or family member. Or perhaps you have uttered this to someone yourself?

Either way, no doubt this comment doesn’t often elicit the desired response. But what if it was a genuine gesture of care taking?

Honestly, let’s look at what is really being asked of us.  Because we each CAN actually take responsibility to more fully engage in our breath experience every day. And guess what? This could be a secret to increasing our vitality as we age.

What I’m talking about is something called “vital capacity” or VC. Simply put, the vital capacity (VC) of our lungs is vital to our health.  Interestingly, when observed it is not the measurement of the total capacity of our lungs that is important, but rather the total amount of air we can inhale once we have exhaled fully. 

So, our discipline and focus is best spent on the quality and depth of our EXHALE and not our INHALE.  Why? Anatomically, as we move into our 50s and beyond, our rib cage tends to become permanently elevated, our ribs more horizontal (“flatter”), and our rib cage region becomes stiffer.  In effect, we get stuck in the “inhalation” position. ) 

We can practice some simple techniques to first observe our breath and then increase our VC.

Why not give this a try right now?

First. Observe the breath moving in your body using your two hands. 

Put one hand on your front lower rib cage and one hand on your chest. Just notice the breath moving in these two areas beneath your hands.

Second amplify the breath beginning with the exhale.

 On the exhale, accentuate the breath into the hand placed on the lower ribcage.

On the inhale, expand your breath into your hand around your heart space as well, as the hand on your ribcage.

Do this several times until you make some gentle observations about your breath. 

Did you notice that if you participate more fully in your exhales that your inhales are fuller and richer?   

Did you notice a sense of slowing down any anxious emotions or thoughts?

I believe that if you take a few minutes (or longer) every day to practice this technique and put the focus of your attention on expanding your exhales, you will increase your VC vitality, as well as toning the muscles and fascia around your ribcage, to allow for a greater overall breathing experience.

This is simply an introduction to the concept of VC, that no doubt has lots of scientific studies and theories. 

From my perspective, I feel that by “owning” our breath experience we can not only increase our essential vitality, but we can step into vital care-taking of the most alive versions of ourselves.

This article is excerpted from Your Spine, Your Yoga—Developing stability and mobility for your spine by Bernie Clark.

Yoga is a Sanskrit word  that means “to yoke”. In this translation it means “to unite or join”.

To me, this is a reference to our ever-existing connection with the creative God or Life Force within us. Yoga as a practice is about making this connection a conscious feeling. That we actually bring it from our unconscious-from under the radar-to being fully conscious of that fact.

We can choose to expand this connection to feeling in harmony with those we love, our communities, those for which we don’t feel obvious affiliation, as well as including the plant and animal world.

Yoga has the power to change the way you feel, the way you look at things, and the way you interpret what is going on in both your internal and external world.  It is not a religion, of course, but for me it induces a religious feeling.  It’s about remembering that we are connected and not separate.  I often forget that simple irrefutable fact and when I come back to my practice, I am reverently and profoundly reminded of this.  

(With credit to Erich Schiffmann’s essay “Remembering our Divine Connection”)

A couple of weeks ago I knew I wanted to acknowledge Valentines Day in a personalized way to some special people in my life.  It was tempting to pick up some clever and sweet store-bought cards, which is my habit, yet I was compelled to do it differently this year. This time I wanted to express my love by hand-crafting them.  And February 14th was right around the corner.  This created a bit of anxiety for me since I have never considered myself “crafty” or artistic.

With no time to waste, I pulled out what I had on-hand. I found some colored paper, pens, collage materials, and promptly got “lost” in my creativity for a few hours.  And deliberately didn’t judge what I was creating. I just visualized the recipient and went to work.

The message here is not about what I created, but the reaction I received from the recipients and how, in turn, that made me feel.  I felt a little thrill when each loved-one responded, letting me know how much they appreciated such a personalized gesture.  And, I deliberately paused and allowed myself to let their response sink in.

What I realized was it wasn’t the action of creating the cards, but allowing myself to step out of both my habit and my comfort zone.  I didn’t let “I can’t or I’m not good enough” get in the way of reaching out to these loved ones in a truly heart-felt way.

All of this had a wonderful rebound effect of “both ways” gratitude and also giving myself permission to rethink my habits.

My lesson?  Practice amplifying your heart’s inherent goodness by giving and  receiving with abandon.  I am clear that making cards is still not a skill that defines me,  but I know much more deeply that when I give from my heart that it matters not.

Hello,

For many of us this is truly a time of feeling battered and bewildered.  There are substantial reasons to feel this way.  And yet these times suggest that cultivating a capacity for loving kindness and tenderness towards these struggles is the right antidote to these troubling times. However, these skills are underdeveloped in most people. Yet I believe that this is what is called for in this very moment.  And I would humbly suggest that the time is now more than ever.

One perspective of this gentleness can be described as “loosening our armor”.  It doesn’t mean disregarding or stuffing down our often long-held and deeply-felt emotions and perspectives. In fact, what is called for are cultivating tools to help dismantle the protective layers that have accumulated from loss, illness, trauma, some type of abuse or simply daily life challenges.

Gentleness does require a certain vulnerability.  And exposing our true feelings is a courageous act.  In fact, the researcher and author, Brene Brown, suggests that being vulnerable is the most courageous thing one can do.  Which of course feels a bit counterculture or at least counter-intuitive.  In fact, in one of its earliest forms, the word courage meant “To speak one’s mind by telling all one’s heart.”  That’s pretty interesting!

We all benefit from starting simply.  Sometimes that means sitting with yourself in silence.  For a few minutes or for many more than a few.  The length of time doesn’t much matter.  Just don’t fill up the time you set aside for this with anything else. Just begin by sitting.  It’s simply a  “pause”.  And then you may find that you are ready to open up to speak your truth. Even if it is just a whisper to yourself.  I might suggest that you practice with an everyday matter first and move onto more deep-seated matters as you gain that courage.  What you will likely notice is a sense of relief that you are beginning to release the grip around whatever issue, fear or concern that is binding you.

You may ask what does that have to do with yoga? The yoga classes that I offer are about practicing tools that help cultivate this type of strength.  We breathe, we move and of course we feel.  Those feelings may be physical, emotional or mental or a combination of all three. And invariably, a range  of sensations will rise up. Which will of course include feelings of discomfort and uncertainty.  In the safe and supportive space that is created in my classes, you have time to explore and hone your skills of this type of deep self-care and open to this new emboldening and renewing version of strength.

I invite you to join me in my current classes that are offered on Mondays through December 3, 2018, at 9:30am-10:40am at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 240 Tiburon Blvd, Tiburon, CA.  New class series will begin again in January, 2019.

Private sessions are also available at my Mill Valley studio.  Please drop me an email at erinielliott7@gmail.com for more information.

• This past Spring a rare opportunity was presented to me to collaborate on a brief documentary-style film with Michael Fearon of Tidefall Studio. (https://www.tidefallstudio.com/). Michael wanted to tell the unique story about  my inaugural community yoga class series that was growing rather quickly.  The class is hosted by my church, Westminster Presbyterian Church in Tiburon, California. (http://www.wpctiburon.org/).
• For this particular class my philosophy is  “come one, come all”.  Meaning, it’s appropriate for anyone interested in creating more freedom in their bodies as well as an opportunity to deepen their knowledge and experience of linking their breath and movement. No previous yoga experience or special equipment is required.  And those with physical limitations are encouraged to come and try a class. The class fee is by donation, and most of the fees have been contributing to the church’s wonderful service and capital campaign programs.
• Michael has a wonderful intimate style, using a small hand-held camera and ambient lighting, which was very appropriate in this setting for both the students and myself.
• The next class schedule will begin on October 1, 2018. I welcome any inquiries at erinielliott7@gmail.com.

Hello and happy Summer.

I am thrilled to co-host a day-long yoga and mindfulness workshop to tune in, tune up and have some fun with my vibrant and wise friend Kim Fuller in a couple of weeks.

Hop on over to the link below that will give you the details about the workshop. This will be a treat for all of us.

Summer-and this Workshop-will only happen once this year at this special secret location.

https://erinelliottyoga.com/summer-2018-workshop/